Each territory however, resets after the battle is finished. This means you'll have to rebuild all your resource buildings, barracks, and other structures if a recently acquired province is attacked. This can make for a long and sometimes repetitive game but overall the addition of this strategic mode is one of BFME2's best features.
During both War of the Ring battles and Skirmish battles you'll have the option to buy hero units from you're main base. These units are characters from the film and books such as Aragorn, Elrond, Gandalf and more. These units are quite powerful and can at times give other units bonuses in battle.
In addition to heroes, buildings and standard units, each faction also gains unique "god-like" abilities that can help in desperate times. For example an earth quake can be summoned to destroy enemy buildings, or the Giant Eagles of Middle Earth can be called upon to assist in battle.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics for The Battle for Middle-Earth II are superb. Character animation is very fluid and each unit is highly detailed when zoomed in on. The colorful environments are also rendered very nicely, all of the splendor seen in the Lord of the Rings movies can be seen in each map.
The audio tracks and sound affects are done very nicely, with good voice overs from actors Christopher Lee as Saruman, Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Hugo Weaving as Elrond.
Bottom Line
The Battle for Middle-earth II is a solid addition to the world of Middle-Earth, with gorgeous looking environments and dozens of detailed units, Lord of the Rings fans will be more than satisfied with this interpretation of the battles in the North that are not shown or detailed fully in the books or movie. There are some minor game play issues with War of the Ring, but both single & multiplayer skirmish modes are excellent and provide a very satisfying gaming experience.
